Welcome to the Running in Cork blog, home of the Cork running community. This is the largest website in Cork & Munster for news on road races and athletics. Included are a current race calendar, race previews, photos, results as well as some local, national and international news items.

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Monday, February 05, 2018

French sports retailer Decathlon to open 9 stores in Ireland

It was announced recently that the French sports retailer Decathlon is planning to open 9 stores in Ireland including Dublin, Cork and Galway.

Decathlon are huge in France and sell sports gear usually at cheaper prices than the usual high street sports stores. They tend to be located on the edge of towns where rental prices are cheaper rather than say in town centres.

Joining an already crowded market, their arrival is bound to have an impact on existing sports stores in Ireland, especially the more generic ones which don't specialise in particular sports.

Decathlon has some 1,350 stores in 40 countries and they expect to open their first Irish store in 2019. The plan is to open their first store in Dublin followed by Cork and Galway. I presume 2020 may well be the earliest that we will see a store in Cork.

They have mostly their own brand (Kalenji) but usually stock a limited selection of other brands. I have a pair of Asics trail runners which i bought there last year while on hols. Also have a decent proportion of Decathlon stuff in my collection.

I've found them a big disappointment from the cycling point of view. I've regularly gone out of the way to a Decathlon shop in Spain, only to find that they don't have what I want and that their bikes are disappointing. Shops like Victoria Cross cycles and the Edge are far superior from the cycling point of view. Not into running.

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'If you want to win something, run 100 metres. If you want to experience something, run a marathon' - Emil Zatopek, Winner of the 5k, 10k and Marathon, Helsinki Olympics, 1952 and broke the existing Olympic record in each event.